Iraq death rate belies US claims of success

[sabra]

Source: independent uk

The death rate in Iraq in the past 12 months has been the second highest in any year since the invasion, according to figures that appear to contradict American claims that the troop "surge" has dramatically reduced the level of violence across the country.

The research comes from Iraq Body Count (IBC), which has extensive experience of working in the country, and concludes that deaths outside Baghdad actually rose until September.

However, the group also concludes that the number of those killed in Baghdad, where the majority of American reinforcements for surge operations were deployed, has fallen significantly during the year.

IBC compiles its data from official sources, including the Pentagon, and found that between 22,586 and 24,159 civilian deaths were documented for 2007, with the vast majority of those killed between January and August.

The most lethal violence took place in Nineva, where the number of deaths rose by 143 per cent. Baghdad on the other hand saw a decline of around 39 per cent after a drastic fall in numbers of deaths in the last three months of the year.


Read more: http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article3315022.ece

[truthisfreedom]

1. And the administration will ignore any questions about this, or deny IBC any credibility.

And there is no official body count in Iraq, according to our fearless leaders. So that means there are no real dead, right?

[Voltaire99]

2. That's the war you endorsed heartily, Hillary. (nt)